“Hello. When purchasing binary files from this site https://trok-sds.ru/ — they refuse to provide the source code. The project is 90% composed of GPLv3 source code from Linstor, but they have removed all mentions of the license and made it proprietary.”
Hi Dmitriy,
Thanks for calling this out! Trok-sds is part of astra.ru, which seems to do the same thing for many big and famous open-source projects. So I feel honored to be listed with those other 20 widely recognized open-source projects. In my taste, “linstor” sounds a lot nicer than “trok”. But so be it.
Yes, this is clearly a violation of the GPL, as they redistribute the software and remove the license.
What will LINBIT do about it? Nothing.
Since 2022, Russia has progressively weakened IP protections for entities from “unfriendly” jurisdictions. Government Decree No. 299 effectively zeroed out compensation for patent use by Russian entities against unfriendly-country patent holders. Copyright hasn’t been formally repudiated the same way, but courts have shown a clear willingness to deny or minimize relief. So we can assume that a GPL enforcement case would go nowhere when initiated by a company based in the West.
So, do not waste money on trok-sds or any other astra.ru product.